Show Don't Tell: Matthew 12:38-45

Instead of saying "Jesus promised only the sign of Jonah," hear the demand refused. The Pharisees and teachers want a sign—as if healing the blind, mute, and demon-possessed weren't enough. "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign!" The only sign: Jonah. "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Death and resurrection—that's the sign. The Ninevites repented at Jonah's preaching; something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South traveled far to hear Solomon; something greater than Solomon is here. Then the haunting image: an unclean spirit leaves a person, wanders, returns finding the house swept clean—and brings seven spirits worse. "That is how it will be with this wicked generation." Reformation without filling leads to worse possession.